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Helping others in time of need
Compassion at time of mother's death led to career choice
By Ed Wodalski
ewodalski@thebusinessnewsonline.com
Some things make a lasting impression.
Greg Zoromski, 53, owner of Peterson/Kraemer Funeral Homes &
Crematory in Wausau (East and West), Athens, Edgar and Marathon, was
16 when his mother died. He never forgot the kindness and compassion
shown by funeral director Earl Janssen of Schofield.
In a life-changing moment, Zoromski decided that he too would like
to help others in their time of need.
"I can't believe that it's been 30 years. I don't think I'm even 30
years old," said Zoromski, a Ringle native and 1975 D.C. Everest
High School graduate who became a licensed funeral director in 1980.
Looking back at that traumatic time, Zoromski said his guidepost in
life has been to treat others like he was treated.
That same principle might also apply to Walt Barden, who founded
Peterson/Kraemer nearly 100 years ago on Wausau's east side. Sold to
Donald Peterson in 1958, Zoromski became part owner in 1989 and sole
proprietor in 1997 at age 40.
The following year he added a crematory, which was shared by fellow
funeral director Tom Kraemer, who had locations in Athens, Edgar and
Marathon as well as Wausau's west side. When health problems forced
Kraemer to retire, Zoromski agreed to purchase the business on Oct.
18, 1999.
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Charting a new course
Tomcor adds boat customization to its growing fleet of enterprises
By Ed Wodalski
ewodalski@thebusinessnewsonline.com
Corey Suthers has a passion for water - big water, Lake Michigan
size, where he gets to mix his pursuit of walleye, salmon and lake
trout with business. In Feb. 2004, the executive vice president of
Norlen, a metal stamping business in Schofield, added Yar-Craft
Boats to his growing fleet of enterprises, moving the company, known
for its deep V-hulled boats, from its home in Menomonie, Mich., to a
new 42,000-square-foot plant on Wausau's west side in 2005. In 2006,
Suthers, 44, purchased the name and remaining assets of defunct
Thompson Boat.
But is hasn't been all smooth sailing. That same year boat sales
began taking on water, due in part to a shrinking credit market.
Sales of new boats fell approximately 45 percent from 2007 through
2009. And since the beginning of the recession, U.S. boat production
has dropped 70 percent, resulting in the loss of approximately
135,000 jobs, according to Thom Dammrich, president of the National
Marine Manufacturers Association.
Among the casualties was Minneapolis-based Genmar Holdings Inc. Last
year, the nation's second-largest boat builder, which owns 13
brands, including Ranger, Glastron and Pulaski-based Carver (now
Marquis Yachts LLC), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
But there appears to be calmer waters ahead. According to the
National Marine Manufacturers Association, new boat sales declined
only 12 percent for the first quarter of 2010 - a sharp contrast to
the 35 percent dip experienced over the same period in 2009. There's
even been a 30-percent uptick in aluminum boat sales this year,
leading Dammrich to point optimistically toward continued industry
growth in 2011 and 2012.
That's good news for Suthers and his six-person crew at Yar-Craft,
which hasn't been immune from the decline, and has charted a new
course as a semi-custom boat manufacturer.
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People who make a difference
Wausau couple provide area veterans with job training, shelter
By Betty Wall
bwall@thebusinessnewsonline.com
Ralph Schlitz and Linda Larson-Schlitz have taken a bad situation
and turned it around to help the community.
The couple started Randlin Homes in 2001, where they support
chemically dependent, mentally ill, homeless veterans and others
through housing and other services.
The nonprofit organization continues to grow, and the couple
received this year's Marathon County Red Cross Community Hero award
for their work with the disadvantaged.
Larson-Schlitz is an employment and training counselor for the State
of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, where she has
worked throughout her career. Her work with Randlin Homes is
voluntary. Prior to starting Randlin Homes, Ralph Schlitz worked for
15 years as vice president of Marathon Savings and Loan and then
worked at group homes for Lutheran Social Services. He now is
disabled but helps run Randlin Homes as a volunteer.
"We started Randlin Homes because there were so many people falling
through the cracks in our system, including the mentally-ill
veterans who were coping with being homeless through substance
abuse," Larson-Schlitz said. "We saw a need and decided to help a
nonprofit organization to help the homeless. There really isn't a
system to measure the number of homeless veterans in our area, but
it is estimated that there are 350 homeless veterans just in
Marathon County. Most of the people here at Randlin Homes are
peacetime veterans, who are not eligible for VA benefits. They
aren't counted in the statistics. We saw a real gap there."
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Growth Strategies
Harmony-Ho delivers more than milk
By Brian Kalish
bkalish@thebusinessnewsonline.com
While Central Wisconsin is replete with dairy farms, Ralph and
Sharon Bredl, who own and operate Harmony-Ho Holsteins in Stratford
and Harmony Specialty Dairy Foods near Edgar, have carved out a
unique family business in the field of dairy production.
The family has moved away from simply producing milk and selling, as
Ralph puts it, "to someone who decides what to do with it," to
taking an active role in creating dairy products themselves.
The move from a volume-oriented to value-added model in 2004
represented nothing short of a seismic shift for a family that has
been involved in dairy production in Wisconsin since the 1890s.
"Our family has been in the dairy business in Wisconsin for more
than 100 years," Bredl said. "Up until 2004, we were producing as
much milk as possible and then selling it to someone else. But when
the fifth generation of the family entered the business after my
daughter Martine graduated from college, we started to question the
model of producing more and more and then taking whatever price we
could get for it."
Bredl said that his operation was producing somewhere between 36,000
and 40,000 pounds of milk per day when he re-evaluated the business
and decided to shift the focus to adding value to the milk rather
than continually trying to increase volume. When asked if the
decision to pursue a value path rather than a volume path was the
result of a long and agonizing process or simply an "a-ha" moment,
Bredl said, "Yes, it was an a-ha moment. My job is to have a-ha
moments. That's my job."
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The List
Tourism spending decreases
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